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Shuttle engine test
One of the liquid-fueled main engines that will power space shuttle Discovery on the return-to-flight mission next spring is test-fired at NASA's Stennis Space Center. (1min 56sec file)
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Cronkite interview
Famed CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite recalls the Apollo 11 mission in this interview on NASA Television. (3min 15sec file)
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Apollo 11 crew interview
An interview with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin takes viewers in a retrospective through the Apollo 11 mission. (30min 39sec file)
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Mission animation
1960's animation provides this overview of the Saturn 5 rocket and the Apollo 11 mission from launch through return to Earth. Narration is provided. (2min 43sec file)
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The rocket view
Film footage from onboard the Saturn 5 rocket captures with stunning beauty the separation of the first stage and a short adapter ring with the blue Earth as backdrop. (1min 36sec file)
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Launch of Apollo 11
On this 35th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 mission, re-live the thrilling launch as the astronauts depart Earth for their lunar voyage. (9min 01sec file)
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Crew's launch preps
The three astronauts don their spacesuits and head for the launch pad in the final hours before liftoff of Apollo 11 on July 16, 1969. (3min 53sec file)
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Thrust to the Moon
This NASA film from July 1965 entitled "Thrust to the Moon" looks at the work to develop the Saturn 5 launcher and the Apollo spacecraft. (4min 30sec file)
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Apollo Saturn
A detailed look at development of the Saturn 5 rocket is captured in this NASA film from October 1967 entitled "The Next Giant Leap: Apollo Saturn." (13min 53sec file)
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First engine tested for shuttle return to flight
NASA NEWS RELEASE
Posted: July 19, 2004

Engineers at NASA's Stennis Space Center (SSC) in Mississippi have successfully tested one of the engines that will carry the next Space Shuttle into orbit.

The test was the first on a complete Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) that will be used on the Return to Flight mission. The engine will be shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center for installation on the Space Shuttle Discovery. The Return to Flight mission, designated STS-114, will launch no earlier than next March and will go to the International Space Station.

The test began at about 4:59 p.m. EDT July 16. It ran for 520 seconds, the length of time it takes a Space Shuttle to reach orbit. Initial indications are all test objectives were successfully met.

"It's good to see hardware processing for Discovery moving forward at Stennis and other NASA centers," said Michael Kostelnik, deputy associate administrator for International Space Station and Space Shuttle Programs. "Clearly, we're making real progress in safely returning the Shuttle to flight and enabling the Vision for Space Exploration."

"This Return to Flight test is a testimony to the hard work of the NASA and contractor team that developed and continues to improve the SSME's capability to take humans to low Earth orbit safely," said Miguel Rodriguez, director of the Propulsion Test Directorate at SSC. "It is a huge source of pride to the NASA and Boeing team to be part of this great program."

Developed in the 1970s, the Space Shuttle Main Engine is the world's most sophisticated reusable rocket engine. A Space Shuttle has three main engines. Each is 14 feet long, weighs about 7,000 pounds and is seven-and-a-half feet in diameter at the end of its nozzle. It generates almost 400,000 pounds of thrust.

Engineers conduct rigorous testing to verify an engine is ready to fly. The most modern versions of the SSME include a new high-pressure fuel turbopump that was first used in July 2001.

"The Space Shuttle Main Engine that flies today has gone through major upgrades and is safer, stronger and more reliable than the one that flew on the first Shuttle flight in 1981," said Michael Rudolphi, Space Shuttle Propulsion Manager.

The Rocketdyne Propulsion and Power division of The Boeing Co. of Canoga Park, Calif., manufactures the Space Shuttle Main Engines. Pratt and Whitney, a United Technologies Company of West Palm Beach, Fla., builds the high-pressure turbopumps. The Space Shuttle Main Engine project is managed by the Space Shuttle Propulsion Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville Ala. SSC conducts engine tests.

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